I hate running
Yes, I really do.
I HATE RUNNING, but I still lace up my shoes almost every week.
I have tried to fall in love with running for a long time. To me, running was cool before it became trendy with all the running clubs. But my relationship with running has always been on and off.
I started running in 2017 when I was trying to get over someone, and going for a run seemed like the best distraction to avoid looking at my phone and seeing if she had replied or not. I pushed through enough to complete a half marathon, but soon after, I stopped. Years passed, and I kept telling myself I would start again, but laziness beat me.
I restarted running in 2020, but the pandemic cut that short. In 2022, I decided to just sign up for a half-marathon. No training, just pure grit. And somehow, in 2023, I found myself running the Tata Mumbai Half Marathon again, completely unprepared.
Throughout the last decade, I have been trying to become a runner. But I have finally come to a realisation that I hate running. Nor am I a natural runner — if you checked my splits, my pace is embarrassingly slow as well. Yet you will see me running or trying to run all the time.
Why?
Because it's uncomfortable. Because I don’t want to do it. That’s exactly why I make sure I do it. Learning to do things you hate is a crucial life skill. And running for me is the perfect exercise to practice that muscle. The muscle of doing things when I don’t want to. It's helped me with everything in life. Every time I felt lazy or didn’t want to work on that hard problem, or didn't want to eat that healthy meal, or go up and talk on stage. I have forced myself to do it regardless.
That’s why I don’t like it when I ask my friends to come run with me and they say, “I am not a runner.” No one is a runner at first. It's something that you become with time, and even if you don’t become a runner, it's more of a reason to go out there and run.
So maybe you should lace up and go for a run this week, not because you love it, but because you hate it. Remind your mind that your body is stronger than its excuses.
After all, running is just the practice of pushing past the voice that says, “I can’t.”